<P>photo by Dee Conway <P>For elegance, subtlety and excellent dancing, the Richard Alston Dance Company has much to offer. Alston used to be the Artistic Director of Rambert, but now has his own company of 10 dancers. The company are really on a roll at the moment and have just opened a new triple bill in London to critical acclaim. <P>The current short season at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, part of the Spring Loaded Festival, contains two fine new works, one exuberant, one melancholy, to music by Handl and Brahms. The finale is 'Roughcut', a rousing revival of a work Alston made for Rambert, to accessible music by Steve Reich. The latter two pieces feature live accompaniment, refecting the musicality of this choreographer. <P>Martin Lawrence (see the photo above) and Jason Piper are as impressive as always and two newcomers, Amanda Weaver and Lee Clayden have made an immediate impact with the quality and the personality they bring to their dance. They are both graduates of the '98 post-grad. class (4D) of The London Contemporary Dance School and are a great credit to their teachers.<P>Alston's work has no hint of the crash, bang, wallop of some contemporary dance (which I also enjoy), but has a restrained English quality that always makes me think of Ashton, particilarly in the frequent lyrical passages. <P>The performances continue on Thursday 16th to Saturday 18th March. <P>There is a Spring Loaded web site at:<BR> <A HREF="http://www.theplace.org.uk/sprload/index.html" TARGET=_blank>http://www.theplace.org.uk/sprload/index.html</A> <P><BR>Here is a ecstatic review by Debra Craine in The Times: <BR> <A HREF="http://www.the-times.co.uk/news/pages/tim/00/03/17/timartdan03001.html" TARGET=_blank>http://www.the-times.co.uk/news/pages/tim/00/03/17/timartdan03001.html</A> <P><p>[This message has been edited by Stuart Sweeney (edited 03-18-2000).]

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